1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a variety of image processing functions have been performed by commercially available image processing applications, as information processing technology advances. In an image processing function performed by a commercially available image processing application known in the art, the image processing function is performed by selecting a process target image and then selecting the image processing function applied to the selected image from a menu bar or icons displayed on a screen.
While performing image processing function in this manner, however, there are two issues as follow. A first issue is that it is difficult for a user to recognize names of image processing functions that can be performed by an image processing application. In a commercially available image processing application or a tool attached to a mobile telephone and so on, what is presented to the user is just a name of an image processing function. Thus, the user may be required to recognize contents of the image processing function by referring to its name.
A second issue is that a user may be required to recognize a position of a menu bar or each of icons in an image processing application. In commercially available image processing applications, the user may be required not only to recognize a name of an image processing function, but also to open the menu bar and search for a target processing function from the menu bar or to select an object, such as an icon. To this end, the user encounters with an issue that requires the user to recognize where the menu bar or the icon is located on a screen. Furthermore, before applying another image processing function, the user may be required to select the image processing function from the menu bar or the icons again, thereby causing the user's attention to drift a long way. Accordingly, the user feels that image processing is a troublesome and difficult task to execute.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-67219, an image processing method is disclosed in which a filter is selected based on a user's operation and an image processing function corresponding to the selected filter is applied to image data in order to improve operationality in image processing.